Fish increasingly shipped by truck from Russian Far East

Trucks have already become a real alternative to rail transport of fish from the Russian Far East, especially during the salmon fishing season, reports Megafishnet.com.

Thus, according to the largest distributor of Far Eastern fish in Russia – Trading Company Nerey, LLC quoted by Fishnews, over the past three years, the percentage of road transport in relation to rail (in terms of transported products) in the company increased from 47% in 2018 to 70% in 2020.

In customer orders, this proportion is even greater. "Last year, 81% of our customers (buyers of fish products) chose delivery by truck, 12% - by containers and 7% - by railway cars. The number of truck orders is growing as not only large enterprises, but also medium-sized businesses are increasingly turning to us: fish processing companies, retail chains, HoReCa establishments.  Respectively, the share of the medium wholesale is increasing in line with the market demand. And in this regard, trucks give you freedom in the formation of assortment batches (according to the composition of the cargo and the number of recipients) and the construction of the route. When choosing shipment by truck, the customer gets a higher delivery speed and product quality, and for fish, especially single frozen, this plays a crucial role, " said Andrey Zabuga, General Director of Nerey LLC.

Costs

For example, shipping fish to Novosibirsk by a thermos railway car will cost an average of 7 rubles/kg, by container-10 rubles/kg, by truck-11 rubles /kg.  To Moscow the charges will amount to 10 rubles/kg, 14 rubles/kg and 14.5 rubles / kg, respectively. But it is important to keep in mind that the cheapest method of transportation – thermos cars - is seriously limited by the season of use and the distance of transportation. Containers do retain the temperature of the cargo when connected to electricity, but are delivered by rail only to the junction station while further transportation to the destination increases costs.

Meanwhile, the tariff by truck includes door-to-door cargo delivery, with temperature control on the way. In this case, the batch’s registration and dispatch takes from one to three days, whereas on the railway it will take from seven to ten days (before the train load is fully formed).

"Previously, we used only the services of our partners-carriers from the western regions of Russia. However the growing demand of the market prompted us to create our own truck fleet. Last year we purchased the first batch of new modern trucks with semi-trailers – - said Andrey Zabuga. - Of course, we mostly ship large orders (mono positions) by rail. But the need of the Far East for road transport is still very large, especially during the salmon fishing season."

It can be concluded that the trucking of fish both in Russia and to the bordering countries already plays a big role and it will continue to grow.